14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this week, we told you that Black Lab Software, the developers of the Ubuntu-based Black Lab Linux distribution, published the roadmap of the next Black Lab Linux releases.
Black Lab Linux Weekly 252 is a 64-bit snapshot ISO image of the GNU/Linux distro, bringing some of the latest components from the upUbuntu repositories. Specifically, this first release ships with the Linux 4.8 kernel from Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak), as well as the Xfce 4.12 desktop environment and Chromium 56 web browser.
It also includes various open-source components, such as the Gnumeric spreadsheet viewer and editor, AbiWord word processor, Audacious audio player, GNOME MPlayer video player, Nitroshare file transfer utility, Synergy mouse and keyboard sharing tool, as well as the build-essentials package for those who want to compile software.
Not recommended for the faint of heart
According to Black Lab Software, the Black Lab Linux Weekly releases are not recommended for the faint of heart because they are not considered stable builds like the recently released Black Lab Linux 8.1. These are designed for bleeding-edge users who want to try the latest software versions.
"These are extremely experimental releases and may or may not have bugs. These builds are NOT for production use but rather for people who don't mind testing Beta software or who want to develop for Black Lab Linux or Linux in general," reads the release announcement.
Keep in mind that some known issues remain in this first Black Lab Linux Weekly release, such as the fact that Wireless and Bluetooth may drop unexpectedly, Oracle Ksplice crashes constantly, and the installer crashes when the operating system is installed on an HFS volume. If you feel brave enough, you can download the Black Lab Linux Weekly 252 ISO images right now.